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Last week I was sent to Cleveland for a work trip and so I took the opportunity to travel south of Cleveland for the weekend to Cincinnati to visit family.

Technically they are my family-in-law, they are the husbands close cousins who I happen to love. And thank goodness they love me too because they treated us like we were on vacation.

My friend Rochelle, who also happens to work with me agreed to come with me and stay with the Jarvis clan. Rochelle and I drove down from Cleveland Friday and stopped in Columbus to visit the German Village. We ate at this adorable German restaurant called Schmidts. We walked around downtown Columbus, well I think it was down town – it reminded me of Columbus’ version of Nob Hill.

We made our way to Cincinnati where we were greeted with family, food and margaritas! We were treated to home cooked breakfasts (with mimosas) every morning. We watched a 4th grade championship game, hit up Skyline and Montgomery Inn and most importantly we spent time with family!

Rochelle and I drinking German beer at Schmidts in Columbus

We saw these Dukin Diva’s win their championship game after an undefeated season!

On our 10th (and maybe my favorite) date of Christmas it was Shane’s stay at home date.

Shane told me to bundle up because we were going to be outside. I naturally assumed we were going somewhere (I didn’t know it was the stay at home date) so when he went to put the dogs out I followed him. Well I was not supposed to do that because he had this whole set up outside with Christmas music, a fire, food and s’mores! He even put up extra Christmas lights on the tree and the fence!

I ruined his surprise! But it was still really special!

We put chicken and vegetables on pitchfork looking things and cooked them in the fire. Shane made the best tzatziki sauce and we had chicken and veggie pitas! Sooo good! Then we made s’mores with fun candy.

This was so romantic and beautiful! This was my favorite date of all! And it was extra special because Bruce and Rhonda got to go on this date with us!

On the 8th date of Christmas I took Shane on our “Something Old” date. We got tickets from our good friend Joann (she has season tickets and let us have them for this game) to the Lobo Aggie men’s basketball game.

This qualifies as something old because Shane and I loved going to NMSU basketball games in Las Cruces! And since they only come to Albuquerque once a year to play the Lobos I thought it would be fun to wear NMSU/Aggie t-shirts in a sea of Lobos.

NMSU and UNM have a big rivalry being the only division one schools in New Mexico. And although the Aggies lost (UNM is really good – ranked 16th in the nation!) we had a lot of fun!

So the time of roasting green chile in bulk has passed. But if you find the need for more chile and don’t want the frozen stuff – here is how to roast your own green chile.

The husband and I do this because it’s just the two of us and we like fresh green chile better than frozen green chile. Don’t get me wrong I love all green chile but if you have the time, do it this way. It also makes your house smell like paradise and it’s fun to do with someone you love. Ahhhh yeah that was a little annoying sorry.

Here is what you need to know and do to roast your own chile

What you need

Green chiles – it’s easier if you can find straight chiles. The chiles that are twisted are hard to roast on all four sides.

Here is how you do it

Put the raw chiles in a cast iron skillet on high heat and let them blister and get black on all sides. You should be able to smell the wonderfulness.

Wrap them all in a towel really tight and let them steep for 15 min or so.

Then you would cut the stem off and peel the black charred skin off and chop those bad boys up!

Sometimes I think we all need to take a moment and appreciate all the small things that are going good in our lives. They often get overlooked by the bigger things that are going well and they always get overlooked or forgotten by the things that suck.

So, in an effort to be more grateful and appreciative of life – a new hobby if you will – I want to take some time each week and give a shout out to the good things in life.

Here we go –

Pumpkin flavored drinks

I have not made it to Starbucks to get the Pumpkin Latte yet but I have had the delicious Harvest Pumpkin Ale! Yummmm!!!

Harvest Pumpkin Ale

Homemade meals by candlelight

The husband and I celebrated the end of a long weekend with steaks, salad and wine outside on the table the husband made by candlelight! Fun, romantic and special!

Homemade posole

Posole is one of my favorite meals ever! I made some this weekend with red chile! Yummm

Homemade posole

Rhonda getting her faced clean

This girl gets so dirty! She is always digging or just sticking her face in the dirt so she is always a mess. We (meaning Shane) are always cleaning her face so she doesn’t scare people away!

Holy Crap – I am so happy there is a day dedicated to one of my favorite foods ever! French Fries!

I LOVE POTATOES!

Seriously I am addicted to potatoes! I wish it was something more healthy like kale or spinach, but I have accepted it. So basically all forms of the potatoes are like crack to me (except potato salad – I can take it or leave it)

Today has been set aside for one version of the potato! The French fry.

My favorite version of French fries are plain Jane fries and ketchup with lots of salt. However, I am blessed to live in the Southwest where there is an abundance of chili (real chili not fake crap) so I am very luck to eat chili cheese fries when I feel like it – which mostly happens after a couple cocktails or a bad day and used to happen every Tuesday night in college with the fate friend Shannon.

Nothing beats really good chili cheese fries. I prefer green chili cheese fries over red – but I am not picky when it comes to fries or potatoes.

So for the love of god please go eat some kind of French fry today. You can fancy it up with Truffled Bleu Cheese Fries, you can do a Cincinnati Chili fry (umm Skyline) you can also be crazy and dip you French fries in your Frosty from Wendy’s! Anyone else do that? You can be like me and Mexican it up with some green chili cheese fries. Stone Face at lunch with some friends please join!

So in honor of today I have included some fun facts about the French fry.

And I am counting down the days until National Mashed Potatoes Day!

Enjoy!

* Fries are not French at all, but are believed to have originated in Belgium. The misnomer in America is credited to Thomas Jefferson — not only the Father of the Declaration of Independence but also of the American French fry — who served fries at a White House dinner in 1802 after reportedly requesting, “potatoes, fried in the French manner.”

* While the U.S. eats more fries than any other country each year, Belgians actually eat more per capita.

* Salt and ketchup are for those lacking creativity. At Pommes Frites on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, toppings include Vietnamese Pineapple Mayo, Irish Curry and Hot Chili Paste.

* There are an oddly large number of French fry related gifts for the fry lover, including lip balm, jewelry charms, golf club heads, cufflinks and throw pillows.

* According to Major League Eating, the authority on competitive eating, Cookie Jarvis won the Nathan’s Famous Crinkle Cut Fries competition in 2005, eating 4.46 pounds in six minutes. Bob Shoudt owns the Curley’s French Fries record, downing 7.9 pounds in 10 minutes in May 2010.

*One of the earliest references we have to British ‘chips’ (French Fries in the U.S.) is in Charles Dicken’s ‘Tale of Two Cities’ (1859): “husky chips of potatoes, fried with some reluctant drops of oil.”